In a historic moment just in time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, @SECNAV announces that the newest #USNavy aircraft carrier will be named USS Doris Miller #CVN81. Miller was the first African American to receive the Navy Cross.
Full story: https://t.co/PTHsPudfLO pic.twitter.com/BPGGp3HGER
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) January 19, 2020
At 7:48 on the seemingly tranquil morning of December 7, 1941 Ship’s Cook Third Class Doris Miller collected laundry on the USS West Virginia.
Yet thousands of feet above Pearl Harbor, the first wave of 353 Imperial Japanese aircraft swooped down on the unsuspecting garrison.
With the call to general quarters, Miller sprinted to his battle station, only to discover that a direct hit from a Japanese torpedo had destroyed it. When Japanese fighters strafed the battleship’s bridge moments later, Miller provided aid to the dreadnought’s mortally wounded captain. Afterward, he manned a .50 caliber gun – for which he had no training – shooting down one enemy plane before moving numerous injured sailors after the order was given to abandon ship.
For his valor, Miller received the second-highest decoration in the U.S. military: the Navy Cross. It was an extraordinary honor, especially for a service member of color at a time when racism still pervaded American society.
Miller perished less than two years later, along with 53 officers and 591 enlisted men, when Japanese submarine I-175 sunk the USS Liscome Bay.
Nearly eight decades after his untimely demise, the Trump administration will immortalize this hero from the Greatest Generation.
The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra further reports:
The Trump administration is set to honor World War II hero Ship’s Cook Third Class Doris Miller during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, by naming a future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier after Miller.
The decision was made by Thomas B. Modly, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to Undersecretary of the Navy in 2017 and took over as Acting Secretary of the Navy last year after Trump fired Richard Spencer from the role in November.
…
“In selecting this name, we honor the contributions of all our enlisted ranks, past and present, men and women, of every race, religion, and background,” Modly said. “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observed, ‘Everybody can be great – because anybody can serve’. No one understands the importance and true meaning of service than those who have volunteered to put the needs of others above themselves.”
Modly continued, “Doris Miller stood for everything that is good about our nation, and his story deserves to be remembered and repeated wherever our people continue the watch today.”
AAN Staff
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